It's a long way from the Sugarland Skeeters to here for Scott Kazmir, and it's a long way from here to their last loss for the streaking Indians.

Saturday, Kazmir and the Indians were both winners, a 7-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins. It was Kazmir's first major-league win in more than two years, and it was the Indians' sixth win in a row, the longest current winning streak in the majors.

The Indians have scored six or more runs in all six games during the winning streak, outscoring their opponents, 53-14. More importantly, the Indians' starting rotation is starting to show a pulse.

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Tribe starters have earned the win in five of the six games of the streak, and their ERA during the streak is a nifty 2.56.

The six-game winning streak is the Indians' longest since they won seven straight in April and May of 2011.

The feel-good plot line on Saturday was Kazmir winning his first major league game since Sept. 19, 2010, when he was pitching for the Angels.

"It feels good to get that monkey off my back. It's been a while," said Kazmir, who last year was pitching for an independent minor-league team in Texas called the Sugarland Skeeters.

Injuries and flawed mechanics caused a full derailment of Kazmir's once-promising major-league career. He was a two-time all-star with Tampa Bay in 2006 and 2008 and led the American League in strikeouts in 2007.

He went from there to being a 15-game loser for the Angels in 2010, a sore-armed pitcher who only appeared in one game in 2011, and a complete non-entity in 2012, when no major-league team wanted him, i.e.: Hello Sugarland!

"I told myself then that it was going to be a slow go getting back, with some bumps along the way," Kazmir said.

Saturday, he found some smooth road and rolled to his first victory in over two years.

"We pull for all of our guys, but it's hard not to have a soft spot for him, considering everything he's gone through," Tribe manager Terry Francona said.

It's only one game, and Kazmir's record in three starts is a mediocre 1-1 with a 6.28 ERA. But if he can come close to duplicating his work from Saturday in his upcoming starts, Kazmir could offer a boost to the back end of the Indians' rotation.

In six innings, he allowed two runs on five hits, with seven strikeouts and one walk, retiring 11 of the last 12 batters he faced.

"The strikeouts are a big indicator for me that my breaking ball is getting better," he said.

The only runs allowed by Kazmir came on a two-out RBI single by Pedro Florimon in the second inning and rookie Aaron Hicks' first major-league home run in the fifth.

At one point, Kazmir struck out four batters in a row and five of six.

"From Day 1, his stuff has been very consistent," Francona said.

So has the Indians' muscular offense during the winning streak. The Indians have averaged 14 hits per game during the streak and have outhit their opponents, 84-37. At least one Tribe player has had three or more hits in each of the last seven games.

"We're doing a good job of extending innings and then doing damage once we do," Francona said. "Our at-bats have been very good."

They were in the first inning Saturday, when Jason Kipnis and Nick Swisher both hit 3-1 pitches from Twins starter Kevin Correia into the right-field seats for home runs, giving Kazmir a 2-0 lead.

Swisher's swat came in his first at-bat after missing the previous three games with a sore left shoulder.

"It's nice to be back in the lineup," he said. "The way we've been hitting the ball you don't want to come back and not do your part. This lineup, one through nine, is pretty good. If we keep playing like this, people are going to realize it."

The Twins cut it to 2-1 with a run in the top of the second, but the Indians scored two more in the bottom of the second on RBI hits by Michael Brantley and Kipnis, who had three hits, including his second triple in as many days.

His triple Saturday came in front of a double by Asdrubal Cabrera in the seventh inning, and Ezequiel Carrera added an RBI single in the ninth.

Notes

Vinnie Pestano has a sore elbow and was not available Saturday. Pestano said the pain is in a different spot in the elbow than it was in 2006, when he underwent Tommy John surgery a month before the Indians selected him in the 20th round of the June Draft. "It's not something I expect to be a big issue," said Pestano, although a trip to the disabled list hasn't been ruled out. ... The Indians have had 12 or more hits in each of their last six games, their longest such streak since they had 12 or more hits in eight straight games in July 1936. ... At the start of play Saturday, the Indians were leading the American League in slugging percentage, were second in home runs and batting average and fifth in runs scored. ... Mark Reynolds leads the Indians with 25 RBI, 12 more than anyone else. ... In Sunday's series finale at 1:05 p.m., Corey Kluber (2-0, 2.25) will face Mike Pelfrey (2-3, 7.66).